Have you used elephants whilst wargaming the horse and musket period? If so, how did you use them and what rules did you use to portray their interactions with other troop types, i.e. infantry, cavalry and artillery?Or did you just include pachyderms because you fancied painting something new and interesting? That is basically what I did. Now that I have them, I'm damned if I know what to do with them!

I've never used elephants in a Horse and Musket game (which I admit does seem like an oversight on my part) but I just had a look through George Gush's Renaissance Rules to see how he handled elephants.

Cavalry becomes disordered within 50 paces of elephants.Any troops become disordered after one round of melee against elephants.

Enemy elephants also give a negative modifier on reaction (morale) tests for troops within 150 paces.

Elephants get a negative morale modifier in any round they come under fire.

I do use elephants in my 18th Century War Games. Of course I do Imagi-nations so when Andy Turlington's company came out with Indian Elephants from the colonial period with a limber for hauling guns I immediately bought eight of them to haul Around The Siege Train of Saxe-Burlap und Schleswig Beerstein. Of course her domain, in Central-West Germany also has Mohawk Indians.

They usually don't get into battle, however for table top references they have only a defence of 1 and a rally and stand value of 1. One guy thought it would be great fun to take the siege train and attacked. The elephants rolled hot, he didn't.

Of course they are marvellous things to spin tall tales around and create incredible back-stories.

The real power of these elephants though comes in the dinner after the game. I always hold a full dinner. My wife sits and has dinner with us. My wife loves Elephants and has thousands of them (almost as many soldiers as I have-- Oh I don't mean real ones, small statues and pictures of every sort. She loves them. Once when I was putting on an ancient game using elephants she was fascinated by the detail and conversion job I had done. Then a look crossed her face (as ominous as if you read in a fantasy novel that a dark cloud passed over a characters face. "You're not going to HURT them are you!????" Of course I was quick on my feet and said "No! Of course not! If we reach a point in the rules where they may be harmed they are allowed to proceed, stately, off the field at their own pace. Since then I bought several Dragontooth Saurian Behemotsh to replace them. She doesn't give a damn what happens to ugly, smelly, slimy disgusting dinosaurs.

Anyway, if anyone were to actually harm or kill one of my Elephants the red-hot Lasagna would wind up in your lap not on your plate.

I have used Mysorean elephants using WRG rules. They can easily be killed by artillery that is allowed to fire over other troops at elephants. So keeping a forest in between guns and elephants or attacking from a flank were useful.

Very nice slideshow full of exoticism!WRG 1685-1835 covers elephants in their various war uses: pack, towing artillery and more 'actively' HQ -with possibly the Great Man in a reportedly bullet proof armored howdah, jingal with a light gun and musketry with four jezzailmen. The defunct and lamented London War Room India range had these 3 last types as well as other niceties: zamberek camels, rocketeers on camels

If elephants on a 18th C. European battlefield are "too much" for you, what about a mechanical one:

That steam elephant is fantastic. I have been looking for one of these to add to my Victorian sci-fi collection, based on a book by Jules Vern that featured a steam elephant. What scale is it, I can't tell from reading the link page.

Of all the European combatants in the Napoleonic era, I think the British would be the ones least surprised by the appearance of an elephant on the battlefield. I mean in so far as responding to it would be. They faced them in India, Wellington certainly understood elephants.

I have done a number of games with Wellington in India, Assaye and such. The Indian troops get elephants. Also DBR has extensive rules for elephants and I have done many Mogul games.

I have a set of 9 nellies for lugging 15pdrs and 5.4" howitzers. They could probably carry the 15pdrs on their backs, but not the 5.4"s. I might even get another set of 9 nellies and model them with guns packed.

Plus, you can send nellies through the Afghan fields to really make a mess of their crops as punishment for raiding Raj territory.

A few years ago a normally 'historically minded' member here was toying with the idea of Prussians with a handful of zambereck camels (a gift of the Sublime Porte to Frederick as a token of anti-Austrian sympathy) vs Russians with one or two jingal elephants (a gift of the Shah to Catherine as a token of anti-Ottoman alliance) .